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Eddy G
Member
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2020 06:04pm
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Hey and happy holidays all.
I'm looking for a good radio for the cabin.
We've got terrible reception even with an antenna so something with good reception reach would be great.
Funny side note.
I asked a sales kid at Walmart "where would I find a radio"
He looks at me confused and says "a radio?" "like in your care?"
I say "No, like on my table in my house kind of a radio"
I swear to you this 20 something kid had no idea what I was talking about...
Anyway, if anyone has a favorite radio or suggestion I'd love to hear it...
Thanks all...
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2020 07:07pm
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I went through this. SE Ohio here on the forum is the radio expert, hope he sees this. Anyway the two radios I read were the best were CCrane and Sangean. I bought a Sangean. I also bought two cheap (as in under $10) USB rechargeable radios, about the size of deck of cards, to carry in my pocket. They get just as good reception as the Sangean, and then the Sangean display went blank, and then I trashed it. I later read Sangean went offshore and quality went kaput, maybe that's why mine sucked.
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Eddy G
Member
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2020 07:18pm
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I have both of those.
The CCrane is excellent but expensive
The Sangean isn’t horrible but isn’t all that great.
I also have a Bose wave radio that pretty good but even with a wire antenna it’s sketchy..
I have read a few Amazon reviews but I’ve lost faith in that..
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:45pm - Edited by: toyota_mdt_tech
Reply
I have a Grundig shortwave radio with SSB, I also got the optional dipole antenna, it rolls up in a nice spool, you pull the ends out on each side, plug it into radio. There is a telescoping antenna on the radio too. Works great, plus you can listen to short wave radio too, including single side band ie upper or lower side band.
SW radio with SSB
SW radio without SSB
Antenna
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:58pm
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Terrible reception even with an antenna....the integral radio antenna or an external?
Fwiw, at our place the prev owner had a tv and put on a 20 some foot antenna just outside the back wall (think a tall pipe). If I set my old Panasonic (80's vintage?) inside, integral antenna up, right across from where that pipe goes up outside I get far better reception than if I move it a foot away.
Ive read that digital tuners may work better nowadays, maybe have signal amplifiers built in?, but my old radios both pull better than the new stuff Ive been around (granted, Ive not messed with expensive new-gen radios)
If your current radio doesnt have external antenna attachments you may be able to add them, then you could hook up to a real antenna otherwise it might only be placement.
There is a bunch of info online about real antenna's, I was looking at such last winter then discovered all I had to do was set my radio near the pole.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 31 Dec 2020 07:19am
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We have bad reception at our cabin too. We dont get the weather radio stations but have 4g cell service.
What is on SSB?
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Nate R
Member
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# Posted: 31 Dec 2020 08:37am
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We have a CCrane 2E, been happy with it. Expensive, but I'd buy one again if it died. Reasonable sound, great battery life (I bought rechargeables), and good reception. I like using the auxillary input sometimes, too.
Only wish it had FM external antenna terminals built in.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 31 Dec 2020 09:27am
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I ran a stainless wire 50' up a tree outside my cabin. Really helped the AM, crystal clear, and FM pulls in previously unknown stations. See this thread:
https://www.small-cabin.com/forum/8_10045_0.html#msg139042
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 31 Dec 2020 10:37am
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Im gonna guess that my vertical pole outside is giving me the omni-directional effect like a wire up a tree would. Of course, with all the tv antenna stuff topside that might be doing something too?
I havent tried connecting a wire to the pole, routing it inside and wrapping around the radio, think that might help?
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RiverCabin
Member
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# Posted: 31 Dec 2020 02:14pm
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C. Crane is the way to go. I have their CCRadio EP at the cabin and reception is spectacular. It's pretty old school and has non digital manual tuning. It has an input jack and can be used as a speaker for an mp3 player or phone. It uses D cells and the battery life is spectacular.
They do have the 2E model with all the digital tuning and such but it is nearly twice the price and I appreciate the simplicity of the EP model.
As others have said, Sangean does have nice radios as well and I own a couple however, for reception C.Crane is the absolute winner.
Go to this site. The owner is a radio nerd and maintains a list of the radios with the best reception.
https://radiojayallen.com/
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SE Ohio
Member
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# Posted: 1 Jan 2021 08:33pm
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Paulz,
Thanks for the kind words! I’m no expert, just an experimenter. I’ve had some good luck with outdoor wire antennas.
See attached image. An outdoor antenna up high gives great AM reception. One pictured uses a weight and pulley to keep wire from snapping with swaying tree. I’ve got about 100 feet or so up high, plus a ground rod. I connect antenna to ground when not in use; wind or snow can give a static charge, let alone lightning.
With a good outdoor antenna, you can get more signal. You may find too much signal on AM, receiving multiple stations on same frequency at night. An antenna run north-south will favor east- west reception and visa-versa, so you may want to orient according to your desired stations.
Any wire will work, go for durable.
Brettny, SSB or single side band is used by hams and pirate radio. If radio used doesn’t have SSB feature, the SSB sounds like Donald Duck. Pirates broadcast often on weekends and holidays. Rural areas have less man made radio interference and might get better reception. 6975 kHz is one common pirate frequency.
SE Ohio
Outdoor antenna with pulley
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 2 Jan 2021 01:50pm
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Do you think there would be any advantage for me to just wrap a length of wire around that pole a few times, lead it into the back wall and do a couple wraps around the radio?
Better to crimp an eyelet on the wire and drill/tap/screw it down to the pole?
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2021 11:30am
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Yesterday while building my overhang I hooked up my portable radio to the wire I ran up a tree. Two things: the country station I get reasonably well inside the cabin would not come in at all, just static ever time I touched it to the wire (92.9 FM). I then tried a R&R station that barely comes in at all (97.7 FM) and it came in crystal clear! Weird. So I spent the day listening to old R&R, a welcome change from 'My wife left me and I spilt my beer'. Both stations broadcasting out of the same city.
These little radios are great btw. USB recharge lasts about 3 hours, fits in a pocket, about 10-15 bucks, gets just as good reception as my old Sangean.
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